While the present human body sail assembly is intended for use with in-line roller skates, it certainly has other uses, and the prior art of body sails exemplifies body sails with alternative intended applications, and these prior devices are typified in the following United States and foreign patents:
______________________________________ Invention Patent No. Issue Date ______________________________________ UNITED STATES PATENTS Hardt 2,018,062 October 22, 1935 Goldberg 3,768,823 October 30, 1973 Alexander 4,738,460 April 19, 1988 Boyden 5,120,070 June 9, 1992 FOREIGN PATENTS M. Hespel French Patent No. 1,499,954 Sept. 25, 1967 ______________________________________
The Alexander, U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,460, shows a rather complex body sail mechanism for a bicycle rider in which the angle of the back mounted sail is controlled by one of the bicyclist's hands on operating lever 32. In this mechanism it is difficult for the operator to hold the sail in any particular angular position with respect to the body.
In Alexander, the sail pivots generally vertically about the axis defined by pins 20, 22, and the arms 46 are driven by gears 44 which extend and retract the sail as the arms move from a vertical position to a horizontal position and then back again.
Alexander's system also includes a tube for reefing the mainsail, as well as a ratchet mechanism shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 that lock the sail in a predetermined reefed position.
It does not have any ratchet mechanism that controls movement of the entire sail about the axis defined by pins 20, 22, which is the location of the present ratchet mechanism.
The Boyden, U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,070, also shows a ratchet-type mechanism through the mainsail illustrated in FIG. 5 of his drawings, but the ratchet mechanism does not act directly on the mast and instead operates by holding main sheet 9 in position, which of course is nothing more than a sheet commonly found on sailboats.
The Goldberg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,823, shows a body-held sail for use by an ice skater, but it is not physically attached to the human body and only held by the user's shoulders and hands. It is somewhat relevant in that it shows a mechanism for stretching the body sail, but stretching is effected by pulling ribs 14a and 16 apart rather than by tensioning the ribs with a sail embedded line in a manner similar to the stringing motion in a recurve bow.
The French Brevet D'Invention No. 1,499,954, Delivre Sep. 25, 1967, discloses a body sail for a roller skater. The sail assembly swings by hand-held arms 39 and 40, and there does not appear to be any mechanical vertical pivot axis. The sail does include what appears to be lines along its upper periphery at 48 and 49 but does not clearly exert a tensioning force on ribs 43 and 46.
The Hardt, U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,062, discloses a body sail for a skater with particular emphasis on a mechanism for extending the sail by pivoting arms 9 outwardly from a vertically downward hanging collapsed position. The patent does not appear to be particularly pertinent otherwise.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,603, issued Feb. 3, 1998, I describe and claim a human body mounted sail assembly that includes a rotatable mast with upper and lower horizontal braces that swing with the mast. The sail is held taut by these braces which are placed in tension by the sail and a bow-like string at the sail leech. The mast, braces and sail assembly can be locked in any desired angular position relative to the human back by a pawl and ratchet mechanism on the base of the mast. The sail is collapsible using push-button quick release pivots at the inner ends of both the upper and lower braces.
While my prior design operates well and in fact is similar in basic design principles to my new, improved design described herein, it is a primary object of the present invention to improve the safety of my prior sail assembly, to reduce the manufacturing costs thereof, and to provide a much simpler sail assembly that is easier to manufacture and far simpler for the user to replace parts without the need for special tools or service centers.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in a human body mounted sail assembly and to provide one that is easier for the user to assemble and operate, one which collapses into a smaller envelope, and one that has enhanced safety features.